Hepburn Pool
Hepburn Pool is a historic pre-Olympic swimming pool built into Spring Creek in the Hepburn Mineral Springs Reserve, Hepburn Springs.
It was built in the early 1930s for the Bellinzona Guest House, run by the Zelman family, Swiss‑Italian settlers. The pool is formed by a concrete weir and drystone walls in a natural creek basin and is surrounded by terraced seating. The weir has an outlet valve to keep some environmental flow of water into Spring Creek.
The pool was Olympic size and hosted Victorian swimming championships in the 1930s. It stopped operating in 1969 when Daylesford built a new Olympic Pool. Over time it filled with silt, and between 1993 and 1995 volunteers led by Merv Keating of the Savoia Hotel restored it using old photographs to recreate missing features like seating.
In 2004, the pool was named Victoria’s Favourite Built Place as part of the International Year of the Built Environment. In 2006, the Planning Minister began a community consultation to balance heritage with concerns about insurance. In 2007, risk management works funded by the Department of Sustainability and the Environment started.
Location: 37°18′57″S 144°8′26″E.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 05:37 (CET).